CF Reddit...REALLY? You need to just fucking stop.

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StudioFiftyFour

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mrs. chinaski

I read on the internet the following facts:
20% women are childless, 20% couples are childless (different sources).
Based on this data, there are at least 20% men who don't have children.

That's not necessarily true. A small percentage of men can (and do) have sex with a large percentage of women.

For example, if 100 women produce one baby each, it is possible that those babies could be sired by 100 different fathers... or 99 fathers... or 98... or every other number all the way down to 1.

The number of men without children could be greater, or less than, the 20% figure you point out.

20% may be correct... but your methodology in arriving at that answer is flawed.

By childless couples, I assume they mean no children produced by that couple, or possibly no minor children living at home. Without any indication of methodology, it's impossible to conclude that they mean that neither part of that couple had kids. In the reports I've read, there's no disaggregation around reasons for not having children, and empty nesters are often grouped with the childfree or non-custodial parents.

Also note that 20% of women is not equal to the same number of women who are in 20% of couples. If you have 100 women, 50 of whom are in relationships (heterosexual only, to keep things simple), 20% of women being childless would be 20 women out of the 100, and 20% of couples being childless would be 10 women out of the 50. That means that you could have 20% of men in relationships being childless (10 out of 50), but men who are childless could be disproportionately single. For all we know, it could be 50 out of 100. There's no indication that the percentages for men and women have to be the same, since men can go around being the sperminator if they like.

From the data presented there is absolutely no way to conclude that women are the driving force behind most decisions on whether to have children or not. I think it's likely, but this particular data doesn't support it.